


And So It Went

by Anonymous



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Amnesia, F/M, Inspired by Dark Matter, Memory Loss, Mystery, Romance, Strangers to Lovers, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29875893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Five strangers wake up on a spaceship with no memories of who they are or why they're there.  When they split into two factions, Echo finds herself growing closer and closer to her counterpart, with no explanation as to why it's so easy.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Echo, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9
Collections: TROPED: Madness 2.0





	And So It Went

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Troped: Madness Qualifying Round!
> 
> Focus Character: Echo  
> Theme: Romance  
> Tropes: Amnesia AU, Tattoos
> 
> Inspired by the TV show Dark Matter! Title comes from a song by The Pretty Reckless!

At first she wasn’t sure what had awoken her. Maybe the incessant beeping to her left, or maybe it had been the horrendous clanging noise. As she slowly opened her eyes, it was only natural to take in everything she could, from the metal floor she was lying on, to the tangled mass of wires leading up to a large computer screen. 

The only problem was that she didn’t know why that was natural.

She blinked, slowly pushing herself up to a seated position, leaning against a railing behind her. She was in a roughly circular room, that much she could tell. There were panels of lights leading up the wall, meeting at a large pane of glass above her head, and through the glass she could see only blackness.

Space. She was in space. This was a spaceship. From the the amount of screens and panels in the room, she might be on the bridge.

Her gaze lowered, to the control panel in front of her. Grasping the railing, she pulled herself to her feet and slowly walked over. There was gravity. That was good. There were several screens flashing and she stared at them, at a loss. Instincts were failing her, and she had no idea what to do about the flashing, or the beeping. One of the screens seemed to show the outline of the ship she was on, sectioned off with several sections flashing red. If she had to guess, those were the areas in need of repair, not that she knew what to do about them.

Instead, she stared out the large glass in front of her at the wide expanse of space. There were no other ships in sight, which could either be good or bad, she didn’t know. The thought worried her, so she focused on her reflection in the glass instead. Long, dark hair. Tall and lean. Wearing a tank top that exposed tattoos running down her upper arms. She blinked, turning her head to the side and running her fingers down the tattoo on her left shoulder.

“I wonder what it means,” she murmured to herself, noting the way it was symmetrical to the tattoo on her other arm.

A low groan behind her had her turning on the spot, hackles raised as if she was a dog. Now she noticed the platform she had been lying on was raised, and there was a man poking his head up from behind the platform. He was dressed in dark clothing, like her - a denim coat over some kind of undershirt, and pants. She dragged her focus upwards, taking in dark, curly hair and a solemn face.

“Who are you?” She asked, her eyes narrowed.

“I…” he started, shaking his head. “I don’t…”

She tilted her head to the side. “You don’t remember.”

“How did you know?”

“I don’t know who I am, or why I’m here,” she replied, crossing the floor and extending a hand to him. “All I know is we’re on this ship, and it looks like it’s in rough shape.”

He took her hand, letting her pull him up. “Can you fix it?”

She couldn’t help the snort, or the the grimace that quickly followed. “I may not know anything about my identity, but I took one look at that control panel and knew I can’t do anything about it.”

“I’ll take a look,” he said, his hand resting on her elbow for the briefest of moments before he was stepping away, looking down at the panel. She followed him, standing behind while he held a scarred hand over the screen, tapping away.

“Well? Any luck?” She suddenly noticed how close she was standing and took a half step away.

“I think—“

“You’re finally up,” a low voice drawled, and they both whirled around on the spot. The door behind them had opened and there was a man standing there, holding a large gun. “We got tired of waiting for you, so we went on a little tour. Found the weapons bay.” He stepped to the side, and two more people followed him in, one a shorter girl with dark hair pulled back in a high ponytail and some kind of paint around her eyes, and the other a man dressed in white with tattoos of strange characters across his forehead and cheeks.

“There’s no need for that,” the curly haired man with her said, holding up his hands behind her.

“Who are you?” Her eyes narrowed as she watched the three newcomers carefully. While the first two both seemed to have an antagonistic air about them, the third one was more withdrawn, hanging back behind his companions.

If it were to come to a brawl, she had a feeling she’d be able to take down the meek one and use him as leverage. If she had figured out one thing, it was that whoever she was, she was in remarkably good shape. All she had to do was avoid the gun.

“Damned if I know,” the man with the gun said, shrugging. “None of us do. I’m guessing you don’t either?”

She shook her head, and felt her accomplice do the same.

“Well, it’s gonna get awkward real fast if we don’t have names for each other.” The armed man stepped forward, his eyes falling on a screen. “Alpha. I like that for myself.” He paused, then smirked. “Why don’t the rest of you follow the trend? Claim your names, fast.”

“Bravo,” the curly haired man said, his voice low, cutting in quickly.

“Charlie,” the other girl said, tossing her head and levelling her gaze at them.

“Delta,” the man in white spoke up. He was remarkably soft-spoken, compared to the rest of them.

All eyes fell on her, and she shrugged a shoulder. “I guess that makes me Echo,”

They stood in silence for a moment, watching each other. Already, it felt like there was a divide between them.

Charlie tilted her head and arched an eyebrow. “What now?”

Alpha looked like he was about to speak, but Bravo cut in. “Does anyone know anything about this ship?”

Delta nodded, going to the panel. “It seems familiar to me, and earlier it responded to my handprint. I think I know what to do,” he said, tapping away at the screen.

“Did you three find any food while you were exploring?” Echo asked, ignoring Alpha and speaking directly to Charlie. That only seemed to aggrevate the other man, and he sniffed, rubbing his nose with his finger.

“No. Maybe you and your boyfriend there could take a closer look while we take a look at the controls,” Charlie replied, her expression cool.

Echo bristled, but Bravo stepped forward.

“Sounds like a plan,” he said, taking Echo’s elbow and leading her past the other three and out of the room.

“What are you doing?” she hissed as the door closed behind them. She tried to wrench her arm away from his grasp, but he held on firmly.

“They have weapons,” Bravo said, matter-of-fact. “We don’t. I can’t be the only one of us who thinks Alpha could cause trouble.”

Echo let out a breath. He had a point. “True. And that Charlie might be small, but she has an edge to her. She might be dangerous.”

“Kind of reminds me of you,” Bravo replied, leading her down the corridor with ease, despite the darkness and the sheer unfamiliarity of the ship. “The way you looked at me when I first woke up,” he elaborated.

She couldn’t help but feel slightly hurt by the implication that he considered her dangerous. Echo swallowed, her eyes turning downcast for a moment before she glanced back up at him. “I think we could take out Delta if we needed to,” she said, figuring an assessment of their apparent crewmates was the safest option for conversation.

“Agreed,” Bravo said, opening a door to their right. “Well, they didn’t look too hard if they didn’t find this.”

It was a small mess hall, and Bravo went to the cupboards on the side, opening them.

“At least we have food,” Echo said, stepping up beside him. “Maybe we should stash some of it, keep the location to ourselves. That way, if it comes to it…” she trailed off, leaving the rest unspoken. Try as she might, she couldn’t shake the feeling that things might turn sour.

“Fair point,” Bravo said, gathering some packets of freeze-dried food and stuffing them into his jacket. “You don’t exactly have anywhere to hide things, hm?”

Echo glanced down at her cotton tank top and thin leggings. “Try me,” she said, stepping closer to him and taking some packets out of his hands. With no shame, she lifted the neckline of her tank and stuffed two packets into her bra. Still making direct eye contact with him, she took a couple more packets of food and stuffed them into the waistline of her leggings. Finally, she bent down and shoved a couple into her boots.

“And you surprise me again,” Bravo said, chuckling. “Whoever you are, you’re smart.”

“Likewise,” Echo replied, arching an eyebrow at him. “Getting us out of the bridge was a good idea. We’re all stuck on this ship, but at least now we can level the playing field and get to know it some more.”

Bravo grinned, knocking his elbow against hers. He paused, close to her, glancing at the tattoo on her shoulder.

“Any idea what that means?” he asked.

She glanced at her other shoulder, pressing her lips together. “No more than I know my own name,” she said, shrugging.

“It’s nice,” Bravo said, lingering close to her for a moment. She shivered, taking a step back.

“We should find the weapons,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself. Bravo nodded, gesturing for her to lead the way.

They found the weapons shortly after, and Echo picked up a small handgun and, after some deliberation, a sword that was lying at the back of the room. At the raised eyebrow from Bravo, she shrugged.

“It seems familiar,” she said, dismissively.

Bravo didn’t respond, instead moving around the room and settling on a large gun similar to the one Alpha had been holding.

“Subtle,” Echo teased.

“About as subtle as bringing a sword to a gunfight,” Bravo retorted, although he was grinning.

“Clearly you weren’t looking too closely at Charlie,” Echo said, swinging and spinning the sword. The forms were coming to her almost naturally, as if she had been doing it all her life. Perhaps she had. “She had one too.”

Bravo didn’t have a witty comment for that, instead turning to the door. “We should head back.”

There was a loud mechanical clanking noise, and a low hum started up as the main lights turned on.

“Delta must have gotten the ship working,” Echo said, glancing around.

“All the more reason to head back.”

“Lead the way,” she replied, following him back to the bridge.

When they arrived, Alpha was leaning back in the captain’s seat while Delta was still bent over the control panel in front of him. Charlie, on the other hand, was pacing back and forth behind Alpha.

“What’s the status?” Bravo asked, his tone catching Echo’s attention. It was different from how he had been speaking so far. It was  _ commanding _ . She looked at him, taking him in almost as if for the first time again. He stood tall, his gaze fixed on Alpha, and the other man almost seemed to cower for a split second before he recovered. Alpha leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, meeting Bravo’s stare.

“Delta got the ship going,” he said, coolly, “and we’re heading towards the nearest station.”

“Don’t you think that’s a decision we should have made as a group?” Bravo asked, bristling.

Echo watched the two carefully, noting that across the room from her, Charlie was doing the same. Bravo’s words came back to her, that she and Charlie were similar, and she began to focus on the other girl, taking in as much as she could about the way she carried herself, the way her eyes fell on Bravo with an almost interested stare.

She couldn’t help but feel a stab of jealousy at that, and it shocked her. After all, she barely knew Bravo. She barely knew any of them. Still, it felt like they had established their alliances, and Charlie had clearly chosen Alpha.

Alpha, who she noticed, had risen to his feet and was standing directly in front of Bravo. The show of bravado ended with Alpha finally backing down, and Echo felt a stab of pride. Bravo pushed past Alpha, sitting down in the captain’s seat.

“Everyone, share your strengths. If we’re going to be a crew, we need to know a bit more about each other,” he said.

“Bit hard to do when we don’t remember anything about ourselves,” Charlie spoke up, sounding almost bored.

Delta didn’t speak, but Echo couldn’t help but notice his shoulders shook a bit at Charlie’s words. Interesting. She filed the thought away for later.

“When I was in the weapons room just now, I felt drawn to the bigger gun,” Bravo replied, as stoic as ever. “And I knew a bit about the computer system, though clearly not as much as Delta.”

Echo nodded, glancing at the man clad in white. He hadn’t turned away from the control panel, but he straightened up a bit at Bravo’s words.

“I knew the manual override code for the doors,” Alpha said, shrugging. “Dunno what that means, but it came to me naturally.”

“Just like when I picked up this in the weapons room,” Echo chimed in, drawing the sword and giving it another experimental swing. “Different from your guns, but I like it.”

“Me too,” Charlie added, stepping closer to Alpha and putting her hand on his shoulder. “We should go check out the hangar. See if there’s any clues there.” She gave him a meaningful look, one that Echo didn’t miss.

“Fine,” Alpha replied, casting a scornful look at Bravo before turning and stalking out, followed closely by Charlie. Only then did Delta turn around, watching them disappear behind the closed door.

“They woke up first,” he said, glancing over at Bravo. “When I woke up, they were already talking, and I tagged along when they left.”

Echo nodded, finding it hard to look away from Bravo sitting in the captain’s chair.

The ship wasn’t equipped with lightspeed travel, so they were forced to trudge along at a slow pace. Alpha and Charlie spent most of their time together, and Delta knew the controls the best, so Echo passed the time talking to Bravo. Although they didn’t know anything about their past, they still were able to find topics to discuss, sitting on the bridge.

“I still don’t think what you’re wearing is practical,” Bravo said one day, raising his eyebrows at her.

Echo laughed. “It’s good for practicing with the sword,” she said, shrugging. “Maybe that’s why I was wearing it.”

“Charlie’s clothes are different.”

“Well, I’m not Charlie.”

He chuckled, the sound low and rumbling and pleasant to Echo’s ears. “And a good thing, that is.”

Another day, they were nibbling on some jerky. Delta couldn’t keep the gravity field active on the bridge while they were on the move, so Echo was holding onto the railing, trying to ignore her hair moving every which way.

“You could tie it back,” Bravo said, teasingly.

“I’ve thought about it,” Echo replied. “Last night when I got out of the shower, I was looking in the mirror and I just… I couldn’t stop thinking about what it would look like braided.”

“I think it’d look nice,” Bravo said, his voice uncharacteristically soft.

That night, Echo stood in front of the mirror and, with trembling fingers, plaiting half of her hair into a long braid starting at the top of her head. The other half, she left hanging loose underneath the braid, and as she stared at herself in the mirror, she couldn’t help but feel like it was  _ right _ .

When Bravo saw her later on, his face broke out into a craggy grin and he reached out, his hands brushing her shoulders. “Told you it’d look nice,” he said.

Echo rolled her eyes, grinning. “Because you’re just the expert on hairstyles,” she teased.

“Somehow I’ve managed to keep this looking good,” he replied, shaking his head, letting his curls toss about. Echo was almost mesmerized by the action, but his fingers on her shoulders were hot and heavy, and she stepped back.

“Training room?”

He nodded, following her down the hall to the empty room they had commandeered to practice their hand-to-hand combat. While Alpha and Charlie seemed to have settled down, they were still wary of the pair, and Echo was still convinced that if they caught them off guard, they could subdue them.

Sometimes it occurred to her that she and Bravo spent almost all of their time together. They even slept together, since Echo didn’t trust Alpha or Charlie not to slit her throat in the middle of the night (and to be fair, the thought had crossed her mind to beat them to it). That had been interesting in the beginning.

_ They had only found two bedchambers, both with two beds. Delta had passed on a room, claiming he needed to stay on the bridge, so Alpha and Charlie had taken one room, and Echo and Bravo had taken the other. The first (artificial) night, as Echo had stood in the room next to Bravo, she had spoken only to confirm which bed he wanted before crawling into her bed. _

_ “You don’t snore, do you?” Bravo had asked. _

_ She had scoffed at that. “Never. You?” _

_ “Of course not,” Bravo had replied, chuckling. _

_ It had been surprisingly easy to fall into the rhythm of sleeping across from him. _

_ A few nights later, Echo had been sleeping peacefully when a strange sound woke her. It had taken her a few moments to realize the sound was coming from Bravo’s bed, and that it was him tossing and turning and groaning. _

_ Nightmare, she had thought, although she hadn’t known why. Echo had carefully slipped off her bed, crossing the small space and sitting on the edge of his bed. _

_ “Bravo,” she had said, quietly, her hand on his shoulder. “Bravo, wake up. It’s just a--” _

_ She hadn’t finished that sentence before he was turning over, his hand closing around her wrist tightly. _

_ “Octavia, no!” he had shouted, before going limp once more. _

_ At a loss, Echo had reached for the sidetable, into the drawer, looking for something, anything. Her fingers had brushed against the spine of a book, and she had pulled it out. The word on the cover was unfamiliar to her, but she had tested it. _

_ “ _ Iliad _ ,” she had said, running her fingers through the pages. Opening it to a random page, she had sat there next to him, reading what she could, skipping over the parts that were too unfamiliar to her. _

_ When they had woken the next morning, when the lights had turned on, Echo had been sitting on the floor next to Bravo’s bed, the book in her lap. _

They still hadn’t talked about that night.

When they reached the training room, Echo turned, backing into the room ahead of him. “Ready to have your ass kicked again,” she asked, arching an eyebrow at him. It was remarkable, how comfortable she felt around him.

“You enjoy this far too much,” Bravo replied, shrugging off his jacket, leaving himself in the grey henley shirt Echo had come to know so well. Her favourite thing about it was that it left his arms exposed.

She didn’t know at what point she had started to consider him attractive, but now she couldn’t stop.

“Yeah, well, you take charge outside this room far too often,” she replied, stretching her arms up above her head. “Ah. Eyes up top, Bravo.”

He dragged his gaze away from the exposed strip of skin as her tank rode up slightly. “First to tap out has to try to hold a full conversation with Delta?”

“That’s not a nice penalty,” she retorted.

“They’re not supposed to be nice.”

“Well, I hope you enjoy your conversation.”

She launched herself at him, aiming to tackle him to the ground, but he caught her. Echo hooked a leg around the back of his knees, trying to throw him off balance, and this time her plan worked. They both dropped to the rug, and she nearly got him pinned before he flipped them over. A few short seconds later, and Echo was reluctantly tapping the rug, signalling her yielding.

“Enjoy your chat with Delta,” Bravo quipped, helping her up, then brushing a piece of hair behind her ear.

Echo was still breathing heavily from the exertion of the sparring match, but her breath hitched as his fingers brushed against her skin.

“Bravo,” she said, her voice low.

He didn’t move his hand away from her. “Yes?”

It would have beenn so easy to lean in, to close the gap, but Delta’s voice came through the speakers, loud and tinny.

“Bravo and Alpha to the bridge. We have a situation. Bravo and Alpha to the bridge.”

Echo followed Bravo there, casting a sidewards glance at Charlie as she undoubtedly showed up on Alpha’s tail. Charlie didn’t look at Echo, instead keeping her gaze fixed on the back of Alpha’s head.

“I got our Comms system up and running, finally,” Delta was saying, uncharacteristically loud and slightly panicked, “and I sent out a distress call. We’re running low on oxygen,” he added, twisting his hands in front of him.

“What’s the problem?” Bravo asked.

“Yeah, spit it out,” Alpha quipped. Ever observant, Echo noticed he was fiddling with a dagger, and found herself grateful once again that she and Bravo slept with the door locked.

“A ship responded,” Delta said, swallowing. “A Federation ship.”

Everyone drew in a breath. Even though they still had no idea who they were, they all knew the Federation was bad news. Delta, who had quickly become the neutral ground between the two pairs, had discovered a news holocast two days into their journey that had broadcasted the Senate denouncing the Federation as a terrorist group.

“Can you cut our signal?” Bravo asked, his eyes wide. “We still have time to get away.”

“Are you kidding?” Alpha argued. “A ship’s a ship, and a rescue’s a rescue. It’s not like we have to join the Federation. We just need to spin a tale and get fuel and oxygen. That’s all.”

“We have no idea who we are, and this is a Senate ship,” Bravo retorted, crossing the floor. Delta moved aside as he went to tap on the screen, bringing up a certificate identifying the ship. “We can’t let ourselves be captured by terrorists.”

Alpha exchanged a glance with Charlie. “We can’t let ourselves suffocate out in the middle of space,” he said, crossing his arms in front of him.

Echo watched as Charlie touched Alpha’s elbow, then leaned in and whispered something to him. Her eyes narrowed, and she crossed the floor to stand by Bravo.

“We should still cut the distress signal,” she said, raising her hand as Charlie opened her mouth to argue, “but I think between the fo-five of us, we can figure out how best to handle the Federation. After all, it’ll be tomorrow evening at least before they get here,” she said.

The moment between everyone was tense, but Alpha finally nodded. “Fine,” he said, meeting Bravo’s gaze. “You heard your girlfriend.”

She could sense Bravo’s hackles rising, and she put her hand on his wrist.

“Do it, Delta,” she said over her shoulder. The sound of tapping rang through the bridge, and Alpha scoffed.

“We’ll be in the weapons bay,” he said, turning and walking off, Charlie close behind him.

Echo let out a breath, her fingers still wrapped around Bravo’s wrist. “Let’s go,” she said, tugging on him gently. “Let us know when the Federation ship is within range,” she added over her shoulder to Delta.

“Of course,” he said, his head down once more.

Echo led Bravo to their room, on high alert the entire time. There had been something about the way Charlie had peeked over at her while whispering to Alpha that had her unnerved, and she wasn’t sure how to broach the topic with her… friend? accomplice?

Boyfriend?

_ No _ , she thought, shaking her head. He wasn’t her boyfriend. They were just friends.

“Thank you,” Bravo said, startling her as the door closed behind them.

Echo turned, meeting his gaze. His eyes were full of depth, she noticed. She could get lost in those eyes.

“Hm?”

“For speaking up, back there. Alpha knows just how to get under my skin,” he continued. At least he hadn’t noticed her momentary lapse, she thought. “He’s like a little gremlin. And Charlie… I can’t get a read on her. I can’t tell if she just doesn’t care, or if she…” he trailed off, his brow furrowed.

Echo shook her head. “Don’t worry about it,” she said, putting her hand on his cheek. “We’ll figure it out. Once we get back to a station, we can try to figure out what happened to us and why we can’t remember anything. We’ll be fine. If the Federation captures us, we just have to play dumb. It’s not as if we actually know anything.”

He turned his head slightly, into her hand, his stubble scratching her gently.

“I hope you’re right.”

Echo smiled. “I haven’t been wrong yet.”

They went to sleep in their respective beds, but halfway through the night, Echo was woken up by Bravo shouting in his sleep. His nightmares had gotten worse over the past couple of nights, she had noticed, and always he would shout the same name - Octavia.

Echo sat up, slowly moving across to his bed and grabbing the book off the side table. She opened it to another random page, reading from it until her own eyelids started to droop, and still she read more.

When she woke the next morning, she was lying on the bed next to Bravo, his back to her front, and her arm was slung over his torso. His  _ bare _ torso, since he slept shirtless. She blushed, rolling over and sitting up.

“G’morning,” Bravo’s sleepy voice broke through her thoughts. She glanced behind her as he sat up. “Sleep well?”

“I did,” Echo said quickly, forcing a smile as she rose to her feet. “We should go see how Delta’s doing.”

Bravo nodded, following her to the door. When she keyed in the passcode to unlock it, though, nothing happened.

“That’s strange,” she murmured.

“What’s wrong?”

“The code won’t work.”

Bravo’s arm snaked in beside her, brushing against her arm, and he tried keying in the code. The light flashed red, and Echo drew in a breath.

“We’re locked in.”

Bravo glanced sideways at her. “Alpha. He knows the manual overrides.”

Echo slapped her hand on the door. “Let us out!” she shouted, but nothing happened.

“What’s his play here?” Bravo asked, squinting.

She thought about it for a moment. “Cutting the distress signal would be suspicious to the Federation. He probably got Delta to start it again.”

Bravo groaned, casting his gaze about the room. “Damnit.” There was a loud beeping, and Bravo turned back to the control panel by the door. His face blanched. “Things just got worse,” he said, pointing at a bar on the screen.

Glancing over his shoulder, Echo noticed immediately what the problem was. “He wouldn’t.”

“He did.”

The oxygen level in the room had dropped by a third of the bar. “He’s diverting our oxygen, the asshole.”

“All that time, we were worried about them slitting our throats while we slept,” Bravo said, clenching his fists at his side.

Echo nodded. “We should sit down. Relax. Save oxygen.”

Bravo nodded, but the next thing Echo knew, he was grabbing  _ The Iliad _ from the table and throwing it at the door, letting out a loud, anger-filled shout. The book dropped like a stone to the floor, and a small piece of paper drifted out.

Echo was the first to react, reaching for it. When she picked it up and saw what it was, though, she felt her heart pounding in her chest.

“What?” Bravo asked, trying to take it from her.

She shook her head, pulling it away. “No.”

Bravo stared at her. “Let me see it.” He swiped for it again, grabbing it that time.

Echo watched as he looked down at the polaroid. It was a photo, showing him standing still in the middle of the frame in a formal tuxedo, and Charlie hanging off of his shoulder, laughing, sporting a dress. His gaze dropped lower, to the caption, which she had read before.

_ Bellamy and Octavia Blake _

For nearly two weeks, they had been travelling through space, without a hint as to their identities before. Echo had grown to strongly dislike Charlie, and she knew Bravo - Bellamy - did too, so to know now that they were related - probably siblings - was a huge shock.

“What are you thinking?” she asked, reaching for his hand.

“I don’t know what to think, Bravo - Bellamy - said.

Echo didn’t know how long they were locked in the room. At some point, they moved to Bellamy’s bed, where he sat with his elbows on his knees, staring at the photo while she sat beside him, trying to keep her breathing light.

“I think I might remember,” he murmured, glancing sideways at Echo. His gaze landed on her shoulder and his eyes widened.

“What?” she asked, squinting at him. “Br--Be-- what?” She didn’t know what to call him.

“Your tattoos,” he breathed, reaching over and letting his fingers brush against her skin. “I think I… recognize them.”

Echo laughed nervously. “You’ve been around me for two weeks,” she said, shaking her head. “You already have a connection to Charlie. We’re probably strangers. We don’t know how we ended up on this ship.”

“No,” Bellamy replied, rising to his feet and looking down at her. “I remember… touching them. Before. Before all this. I think we know each other.” He turned, grabbing the book off the floor and flipping through it. “I wonder if there’s anymore pictures in there!”

She held her breath. “You should calm down. You’re breathing too much,” Echo warned him, but he didn’t listen.

“There’s gotta be something…” Bellamy muttered, stopping as a polaroid slipped out from the pages. It was of Delta and Charlie, holding hands and smiling at each other, and it was labelled  _ Octavia and Levitt _ . Bellamy set it aside, flipping through the book one last time, and another polaroid flicked out.

Echo caught it, looking down at it. Her breath caught in her throat, and she slowly turned it to Bellamy. The picture was of them, kissing, Bellamy’s hands on her shoulders, over her tattoos. It was labelled  _ Bellamy and Ash Blake _ .

He let out a breath, slowly raising his eyes to hers. “Does that mean…?”

“I…” Echo breathed, shaking her head. “I don’t…”

He slowly leaned towards her, pressing his lips to hers. It felt right, kissing him. Even though she couldn’t remember being Ash, kissing Bellamy felt like she was finally home, and not trapped in the middle of a spaceship, running out of air.

His fingers brushed against her tattoos and she sighed against his lips.

When the door finally opened, they were lying together on the bed, their breathing shallow.

“Corporal Raven Reyes,” someone announced, and Echo slowly lifted her head. “We received a distress signal.”

The corporal was wearing Senate blue. Echo let out a sigh of relief, running her fingers through Bellamy’s hair.

**_To be continued..._ **

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
